If the bottom line in working with nonprofit adoption agencies is to bring a child into your family as efficiently and affordably as possible, it might not necessarily matter to some families whether the agency they use is a nonprofit or for-profit agency. However, there are good reasons to use a nonprofit agency rather than one looking to make money from their work with you and your family.
What Makes a Nonprofit Adoption Agency Different?
While you may not notice it on your end of the transaction, a nonprofit agency is philosophically different from an agency looking to turn a profit on your transaction. The biggest difference between the two types of organizations is that a nonprofit like New Beginnings Adoptions will focus on a mission whose main goal is to help children and families above all things. Everyone on staff at New Beginnings knows that it isn’t about the money, but rather the children trying to find a home with their new families.
Furthermore, at a nonprofit, no one owns shares of the business, so no one has any inappropriate financial interest in the company. Again, the entire point is the mission, not the money, so all income the organization generates gets cycled back into the nonprofit’s public benefit mission and activities. For New Beginnings Adoptions, that means taking all expenses out of the hands of birth mothers. It means covering the costs of medical expenses, specialists, and counselors. It even means assisting birth mothers with lodging while the baby grows inside them. Every penny earned either goes toward paying a living wage to employees or gets reinvested back into the organization, which is why many people prefer it to for-profit organizations.
Does This Mean Nonprofits Are More Affordable?
We often are asked whether it’s more affordable to work with a nonprofit, and the simple answer is that there shouldn’t be much difference between the two. While our missions may be different, many of the expenses are the same, and while New Beginnings Adoptions does budget for the money coming in, it mostly is done as a means of helping birth mothers.
While we take great pride in running an adoption agency for all the right reasons, we want to make sure it’s done correctly with everyone’s best interests at heart. That doesn’t necessarily mean that those services come at a discount.
At the end of the day, adoptive families should be looking for a good adoption agency, regardless of whether it’s a for-profit or nonprofit organization. Work with an agency that treats the birth mother and the adoptive families with respect. Seek out education programs to help you with the transition of bringing a new child into your home. Remember that you’ll want guidance with the financial aspects of adoption, which can be tough to manage no matter the agency.
Work With a Mission-Driven Adoption Agency
Those are the hallmarks of a great adoption agency, but if they can offer all of that (and New Beginnings Adoptions certainly does) while also operating for the greater good rather than for shareholders, it’s easy to see why so many people prefer the nonprofit option when choosing an adoption agency.
